Walking South
on the beach
in front of Doral
I heard a woman sing ...
“If you put the man
back in romance
I’ll put the lay
back in lady”
Catching up to her
I asked
where she first
heard the song
She said: “It’s mine
do you like it?
It still
needs more work
I was hoping
this walk
would enchant
or inspire”
At the Fontainebleau
I said: “I do very much
Let me help you write
the second verse”

(Miami Beach: 1982)

Dreams Of ‘Papa’

Burning fat
off your soul
with each word
that he wrote

Every vision
a banquet
to swallow
or choke

In the ring
or arena
with blood
boiling high

A man greets
the dragon
with hello
— or goodbye

(Dreams Of Papa: May, 2025)


Sins Of Omission

Intending
to deceive
with words
unsaid
In your
silence
truth denied

What’s stays
on mute
voiced in
your head
Its  
intention
— vilified    

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Smyllum Park

The great
deceivers
hope and affection
Leave you
a foundling
an orphan of joy
As twins
they’re conscripted
in fields of abandon
Where life takes
no solace
and heartache
— deploys

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Into The Breach

Every war
is different
Every war’s
the same
Bullets fly
and soldiers die
With valor
— to rename

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Crossing Over

A whispered dare
a final vow
the Rubicon behind

New Light ahead
through smoke and blood
the final victim — time

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)

Self-Owned

Remember
the day
you became entitled
to yourself

No debts to pay
no last charade
the circle closed
— indwelt

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Reflection

Do we just recall
a memory
Or its cause
and its effect

Is consciousness
a chain of links
To front load
— or dissect

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)


Beatitude

The deeper you question
the more you constrain
God’s true existence
to never explain

Loosen your grip
on what holds you back
Surrender to glory
— Divinity’s tack

(1st Book of Prayers: May, 2025)


The Only Thing

Winning is always
undefeated
Score
to tell the tale

The victory plum
is zero sum
With glory
— to regale

(The New Room: May, 2025)


All Is Now

Unplugging tomorrow
recharging today
Conscripting the moment
— inside which we pray

(1st Book of Prayers: May, 2025)

Forbidden Ground

Wandering
beyond the limitation
of death
Trespassing
through the back gate
of forever
Maundering
alone in a ******
wilderness
Witnessing
the future destruction
—  of time

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Bookends

Enough to be absent
he fumbled the words  
His mind ever vacant
new truancies heard

Those spaces beyond him
those spaces behind
Bookends of fruition
— unspoken defined

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)



Sognefjord Waiting

A mile
past tomorrow
a glacier
lies at rest
New memories stored
within its fjord
awaiting
— our behest

(The New Room: May, 2025)

Religion ...
*****
of the poor
And roadmap
of the forever
— lost

(1st Book Of Prayers: May, 2025)

Some go
through life
in a sophomoric
zone

Knowing about
strangers
while being
alone

To ever
quote names
or that face
in the crowd

Aggrandizing
self
as their folly
— astounds

(Reading Market Philadelphia: May, 2025)

A Poet dies
and
the world lives
to mourn
Rereading his
words
a new spirit
is born

In paradigms
searching
for hope and
reprieve
His memory
calls out
to those
— who believe

(Dreamsleep: May, 2025)